The present invention relates to a pleater tape which includes one or more pull cords for forming double pleats in drapes or curtains or the like, which are alternately freely arranged on the back side of the tape and affixed to the tape. The pull cords are longitudinally displaceably affixed in the center of the double pleat for a short length by means of woven loops or by means of a short changing of the pull cords from the back to the front side of the tape and back again. The lengths of two oppositely placed single pleats determine the length of the double pleat.
In order that the two single pleats which form the double pleat will run smoothly and close to the tape in prior art pleater tape of the described type, the tapes are provided with small worked-in pockets which cover the length of the double pleat, whereby small reinforcing rods with respective measurements and made out of a synthetic material or a similar material, are inserted into said pockets. These types of tapes have the disadvantage that the small reinforcing rods, which run over the longitudinal center of the double pleat, produce an insufficient smoothness of the aforementioned surface of the double pleat and in the handling of the tape tend to fall easily out of the worked-in pockets. Additionally, the insertion of the reinforcing rods is done by hand, with the result that the production costs of the carrier tape are very high with regard to wages, a situation which, in view of mass-production, should be prevented as much as possible.
By the present invention, these disadvantages are avoided, in that means are provided by which the single pleats are fixed so that they run parallel to the longitudinal direction of the tape or are lying flat on the tape. According to the present invention, one of such means includes a small plate made out of a synthetic or similar material which is insertable in a worked-in pocket and which extends over the width and length of the double pleat by which is obtained a large-area stiffening of the tape-section, and whereby the small reinforcing plate at the edges of the sides which glide along the attached pockets at the inner parts of the worked-in pockets, are provided with cuts or notches which are arranged in such a manner that the reinforcing plates are solidly hooked into the threads of the tapeweaving when one tries to pull them out. While in the utilization of these small synthetic plates, one of the above-mentioned disadvantages is not removed, namely, the manual insertion of the small synthetic plates after the tape has been manufactured. The hereinbelow-mentioned means according to the present invention will fully provide a solution.
Accordingly, the double pleats which are formed by the single pleats are placed into a position which is parallel to the longitudinal direction of the drapery, by that part of the tape which forms the length of the double pleat which is reinforced by either a tighter weaving or another type of the binding.
In place of the above-mentioned two means which effect a reinforcing or stiffening of that section of the tape which forms the length of the double pleat, there may be utilized in accordance with the present invention a further means for solving the given problem. A further pull-cord is arranged along the upper edge of the tape in place of the stiffening. This pull cord is tied or secured over the length of the double pleat and over the tape-section between two adjoining double pleats in a longitudinally adjustable manner, and runs therebetween freely over the tape. This additional pull cord is put in operation after the pull cord or the pull cords are pulled for the purpose of forming the double pleat, with the result that the ends of the two single pleats which form the double pleat are tightly pulled to the tape and are there fixed.
For forming multiple pleats, the present invention proposes one each further single pleat at both sides of the double pleat, whereby at their pleat fold-lines which protrude inwardly during the forming of the pleat, the two pull-cords which are arranged on the tape, namely, those pull cords which serve to form the pleats, are affixed thereon displaceably for a short stretch while the pull cord which is arranged along the tape edge, namely, that pull cord which draws in the single pleats to the tape, is displaceably affixed onto its pleat fold-lines which spring outwards.